But who is from India?!

Thu, 2010-09-30 18:13 — telegdiandrea

...was the surprised question of the Rákóczi-facebook-group moderator when accounting for the followers. There were lots of people naturally from the four target-countries (Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine) and some from other EU-countries, wherever the wind of change has spread these beautiful minds, but India just seemed a little bit out of reach of the Rákóczi-boundaries. Well, I tell you what, it's not. Because the Rákóczi-feeling has no boundaries!

Many before me have spoken and captured the miracle of being a member of the Rákóczi-family in words and certainly have done it much better than I could. Thus, I would rather like to speak about being a 'Rákóczian' from a distance. Both in time and space.
5 years after the summer camp, with a finished Bachelor degree in my hand and a Master in process, I was granted the opportunity to attend a research track, in India. There, the little travel time I had, I used it to the fullest and decided to pay my tribute to the great Hungarian linguist Kőrösi Csoma Sándor in Darjeeling, at the foot of the Himalayas. Now, one might wonder why this specific place from the immense endless Indian wonderland...unless she's a Rákóczian. One might also wonder why to remember a long-past summer excursion when one has such a splendid view on the world's highest mountains...unless she's a Rákóczian. Being there, on top of the green tea plantations, surrounded by the mighty peaks and seeing the Hungarian flags being brushed by the wind and even more so, the Hungarian writing amongst all the rest of devanagari signs (the hindi alphabet), was amazingly fulfilling. It was like standing on the edge of the Visegrád-castle with a view on the Danube-curve, with a big flag flying over the tip of our heads, 5 years ago...for it was the Rákóczi-camp that has engrafted me with this feeling of belongingness that for sure doesn't stop in India. The inscription on the grave said: 'A pioneer of the friendship between the peoples of India and Hungary'. It was good to step in the footsteps of a pioneer. But I guess, what we all in the great big Rákóczi-family are and want to be are pioneers ourselves, aiming for a better understanding, resolution of conflicts in our own area, for which we don't have to go as far as India; but if we are anyways here, we might as well just begin the work here and enrich people's knowledge by explaining them where we come from, who we are and what do we have in common. Even if Kőrösi couldn't locate the origin of Hungarians in India, we do have a lot of similarity and a common ground to learn from. Many territories are fighting for autonomy, just as Transylvania is, but others learned how to coexist peacefully, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and who knows what else; other areas again are disturbed by constant revolt such as Kashmir...lots of solutions lying ahead. Therefore, it's good to have the bird's-eye view on your own living space from time to time, to escape and then return more knowledgeable, more determined and more experienced. Although one thing will never change, and that is, being a Rákóczian. The sense of belongingness and the will to change. Not because you have to, but because you want to.
So, from the faraway and yet-so-close India I say 'Namaste' and enforce everyone on Kőrösi Csoma's example to countinously search and fight for what we believe in. HajRákóczi!